Alarming

March thirty-first turned out to be one of the best days off Lee had ever spent. He took his fiancée and her boys to the Georgetown Hoya's game. It was an exciting game with the home team wining at the buzzer, making it into the Elite Eight.

After the game they all piled into the Wagoneer for the quick ride to his apartment where they were now all sitting down to a meal he'd cooked.

Over Chicken Kiev, egg noodles and steamed asparagus, Jamie and Phillip replayed the entire basketball game. And, of course, girl-crazy Phillip noted which of the cheerleaders he thought were hot. He had to admit, the boy had good taste.

The discussion got pretty heated when the boys disagreed over a call made by the referee. Since everyone was through eating, Amanda suggested the boys go and watch some television while she'd help him clean up.

He carried the last of the dishes into his small kitchen and Amanda placed them in the dishwasher. She filled the sink with warm sudsy water and began to wash the pots and pans.

He tugged her hands out of the water. "Leave them. I'll take care of it later." He wrapped his arms around her and tugged her close. "Alone at last. I've waited all day to do this." He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.

She responded by twining her arms around his neck and snuggling closer to him. They lost themselves in each other until the need to breath became urgent.

"As much as I'd love to continue this, I really should get the boys home. Tomorrow is a school day, and I'm sure they have homework to finish up."

Reluctantly, he took her hand and led her back into the living room.

"Okay, fellas, get your stuff. We have to go. There's school in the morning."

He helped Amanda on with her coat. Then walked them down to her car. Leaning
in the front window he kissed her goodnight. He stood in the street and watched as she drove down the block. Once she turned the corner, he walked back to his apartment and the sink full of pots and pans.

After he washed, dried and put away the cookware, Lee grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat in the living room, and picked up his book. He wanted to finish the last few chapters before he went to bed.

He really enjoyed the book and had no idea who the killer was until the very last page of the book. He left it on the table by the door so he'd remember to bring it to work for Billy.

Walking through his apartment, he checked to make sure the door and windows were locked. He closed his bedroom door and flipped the switch to set his alarm clock, he too, had an early day tomorrow.

He stripped off his clothes leaving them in a heap on the floor then slipped between the cool sheets. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

~~~

The annoying buzz of the alarm woke him from an amazing dream. He and Amanda were snuggled together on a beach somewhere. He shut the alarm and staggered from bed to the bathroom. Gosh, he was so tired. Used to be a time, not long ago, where he would be out partying all night and still manage to get to work. Maybe, he needed to exercise more or take some vitamins.

He stood under the hot spray and showered with his eyes still closed. Only opening them to shave.

He donned his bathrobe and went to the kitchen to fix the coffee. While it perked, he went back to the bedroom and made his bed. He picked up his clothes from the night before, and tossed them into the hamper. Going back into the kitchen, he fixed himself a cup of coffee and brought it back into his bedroom to drink while he dressed.

He swallowed the last sip of caffeine and put the dirty mug in the sink. Picking up the book for Billy and his car keys, he shut and locked his door behind him before he left for the office.

~~~

As he drove to the quite streets of his neighborhood he noticed that it was a little darker out then it normally was. Maybe, it was going to rain. He had a slight headache and didn't turn the radio on so he'd missed the weather report.

Traffic was light and it didn't take him long to get to the office. There wasn't any open spots on the street so he pulled into the underground garage and took the elevator straight up to the bull pen.

~~~

Something big must have gone down last night because the night shift was still there. But something wasn't right. The usual chaos that went along with a major flap was missing. Even Billy's office was dark and he certainly would have been in already.

Then again, maybe Bill went to some staff meeting or something. He'd just go up to the Q and wait for Amanda to get in.

He exited the closet elevator in the Georgetown foyer. It, too was dark. Mrs. Marsten wasn't at her post. Something was definitely going on.

He took the stairs to the Q two at a time, unlocked the door and flipped on the lights. Before he could close the door behind him, he was startled by Ragmop. "Hey, Mr. Stetson, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

"Umm . . . I am just picking up a file I forgot to take with me. I'll be out of your hair in just a minute."

He walked over to his desk and rifled through the papers there. He caught a glimpse of the time on his watch. Two-thirty in the morning on April first. April fool's day. He shook his head and smiled, then a chuckle escaped.

The boys really got him good.

He picked up an empty file and laughed all the way out of his office and down the stairs. Those little buggers changed the time on all his clocks.

Now, he was going to have to think of something really good to get back at them for this little practically joke.

End

"Good morning, my name is Effraim Beaman, and I will be leading today's class, Personal Safety for Agency Dependents. The purpose of this class is to help you understand the role your loved ones play in our nation's security and how that job could affect you. Now, let's get started with a brief history of the Agency," droned Beaman, who was standing before today's class made up of the Stetson-King-West family.

"Excuse me, Mr. Beaman? Do you think you could slow down a bit? I'm trying to take notes," Jamie eagerly requested.

"Wormbrain, why are you taking notes? It's not like there will be a test or anything," Phillip joked.

"Test? What test? Amanda never said anything about a test when she signed us up for this class. I mean I don't do very well with tests. Do you know it took me six tries before I finally got my driver's license, and that I have been trying for my pilot's license for years? And what happens if I fail this test? Are you going to fire Amanda and Lee or make me forget that they're spies or intelligent operatives, as Lee likes to put it? Knowing that mean little man, Mr. Melrose, I would not be surprised. I know that Lee and Amanda tell me he's a nice man, but if he fires them because I don't pass some silly test, I would just feel horrible. And Phillip, don't call your brother, wormbrain." After hearing Dotty ramble on like that, Effraim could now understand where Amanda got it from and how she could confuse everyone so thoroughly.

"First off, Jamie, there is no need to take notes as this is just an informational session. Secondly, there is no test, Mrs. West, so you don't need to worry about failing anything. Third, the proper term is intelligence operatives, not intelligent operatives. And lastly, Mr. Melrose is a very nice man if you just get to know him. So, now that we are clear on that, let's continue with our discussion. The Agency was started by Harry V Thornton in…" Effraim attempted again.

"Harry? As in that nice gentleman I met at Amanda and Lee's wedding? You would never know to look at him that he was some super spy who came up with this place!"

"Mrs. West, please. If you continue to interrupt me, we'll be here all day," an exasperated Beaman suggested as calmly as possible.

"I'm sorry, but this is all so fascinating. Plus I do have four years' worth of questions to get answered since I just now got the truth about what they do out of that daughter and son-in-law of mine."

"I understand you have questions, Mrs. West. I will do my best to answer them with today's information, but you must remember that much of what we deal with is classified. I may not be able to answer all your questions. The same applies to Scarecrow and Mrs. King."

"That's another question I have, young man. Why does everyone around here but my daughter have a code name like Scarecrow? Yet Amanda is still called Mrs. King. If a code name is supposed to protect an agent's identity, that isn't a very good one. Plus, may I remind you that she's not Mrs. King anymore since she is married to Lee now. I really think you people ought to try and come up with a code name for her. You know, I could come up with a code name for her if it would help. Maybe it could be Panda. That's what her daddy and I used to call her when she was little. Do you think that would be a good code name for her?"

"Mrs. West, I'm sure that Lee and Amanda are working with Mr. Melrose to come up with a code name for your daughter. Now, if we could just get back to history of the Agency…" Beaman directed. Scarecrow is really going to owe me big time for this one, he thought.

He'd finally thought of the perfect way to get the boys back for their 'timely' April Fools joke. Since he'd arrived at work with some time to spare before the start of his shift, he'd been wracking his brain for the ultimate revenge. The idea hit him just as dawn crept into the window of the Q-Bureau. 'Oh, this was going to be sweet.' Lee thought, rubbing his hands together. He couldn't help but laugh out loud.

The plan needed some tweaking, and he was going to need a little help executing it. He rose from his desk, and fixed a pot of coffee. Once it began it dribble out, he replaced the glass pot with his mug, swapping back once the mug was filled. Lee drank half the mug in one swallow, refilled his cup and sat back behind his desk.

Pulling the phone closer to him, he propped his feet on the end of the desk and dialed Amanda. It was a little early for her to be awake but she'd understand once he explained it to her. The next call he made was to Mario. The guy owed him a favor and it was time to collect. All the pieces were in place. Now, all that was left to do was sit back and wait. He may as well get started on the reports he needed to turn in.

He'd just completed his third report when Amanda walked into the Q-Bureau carrying an armload of spring blossoms. "Oh, Lee, I'm so sorry. I should have thought the boys would pull something. I just . . . "

"It's all right," He interrupted her. Going to her, he wrapped her in his arms. "It was just a little harmless prank. No one was hurt." He leaned down and captured her lips in a passionate kiss. Crushing the blooms between their bodies. Their sweet fragrance filled the room to mix with hers making his head swim. Before he got too carried away, he reluctantly broke the kiss. "I'm sorry I squashed your flowers."

"I'm not." She winked at him and wiped her lipstick off his lips.

"So, tell me, how did it go? Is everything all set?"

"Oh, yeah, everything is set. I told the boys I had a late meeting and you'd pick them up after school. Phillip called shotgun and Jamie argued that it was his turn to ride shotgun. They argued in the car all the way to school. I think you should let Phillip ride up front. Something tells me their little prank was all his idea."

He threw his head back and laughed. "You are one devious person, Mrs. Stetson. Remind me to stay on your good side." He gave her another quick kiss, then took her hand and they went down to the conference room for the morning briefing.

~~~~

The time arrived for him to put his plan into motion. He walked over to his wife and kissed her. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck. I wish I could be there to witness this."

"I'll tell you all about it, at home." He kissed her again and left the office to exact his revenge. He drove his Corvette over to Mario's where he swapped it for a lime-green, Cadillac El Dorado, with lemon-yellow fur interior and a pair of green fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view mirror. He made arrangement for one of Mario's employees to follow in the 'Vett. Lee didn't want to be seen driving this flaming fruit of a car any longer than necessary.

He spotted the boys standing out side the front of the school along with about a dozen of their friends. Lee was laughing so hard he had to pull over and collect himself before enacting his revenge.

Once he was back in control, he drove as slow as possible up the main driveway, honking the horn as he went drawing as much attention as possible to the car. He thought the horn was a nice touch since it played the theme from the Godfather movie. He stopped in front of the group of kids, rolled down the passenger window and called out to his step-sons. As he expected, they ignored him, so he got out of the car and shouted out their names. The look on their faces was priceless. Phillip's jaw hung open so far, Lee was afraid he'd dislocated it. Jamie, on the other hand, went sheet-white. "Come on, guys, your mom's waiting for us," he yelled.

Shoulders slumped and heads down, the boys plodded toward him. He could hear them debating who was going to ride shotgun. Phillip said, "it was Jamie's turn to ride up front." While Jamie countered with, "since, Phillip was the oldest, he should have the honor of riding up front."

Lee agreed wholeheartedly, and held the doors open for them. Jamie climbed into the back seat and gave an exaggerated yawn. "Boy, I'm beat. I think I'm going to just stretch out back here and take a nap.

Phillip got into the front seat and slouched down as much as possible.

Lee smiled and waived to the other kids standing out side the school. He slid behind the wheel and before starting the car, made sure everyone was buckled in. Giving a final toot of the horn, he pulled out of the parking space and crawled down the drive.

Two blocks later, he pulled into the parking lot of a local supermarket. He could hear the groans of protest coming from both boys. "I just have to pick up something really quick. Why don't you guys wait here for me?"

"Ah, no, that's okay Lee, we'll come with you," Jamie said.

"All right, but take your books. I don't want to leave them in the car." He started to walk down the row of parked cars. The boys quickly caught up with him. The trio walked down three rows to find his Corvette parked in the lot next to a mini-van.

Both boys wore stunned expressions. He laughed and climbed behind the wheel of the sleek sports car. "Well, are you going to stand there all day, or do you want a ride home."

They scrambled into the car, Jamie squished in the storage space behind the seats and Phillip in the bucket seat next to him. Lee turned to his boys and said, "April Fools." before driving back to Arlington.

He made sure to honk the horn and waive as they passed a group of boys walking home from school.

End

Breakfast – The Most Important Meal of the Day

Lee opened his eyes. He couldn't believe it. No more secrets. No more mystery marriage. Everything was out in the open. Well not exactly everything. They still hadn't come clean about their jobs. Not yet, anyway.

Today was the first morning he had woken up in Amanda's bed in her house. She kept telling him it was `their' house, but he had a hard time thinking of it that way. One of the first things they planned to do in the coming months was look for a new home. But for now he was content. He no longer had to wake up in an empty bed.

Glancing over at his wife's side of the bed, he found her missing. Okay so even now he was waking up to an empty bed. But he knew she wasn't far. He stretched his arms over his head as he heard the water in the bathroom turn off. If he'd woken earlier, or better yet she had woken him, he would've joined her in the shower.

"Morning, sleepyhead." Amanda said as she came out of the bathroom dressed in a pair of jeans and sweatshirt.

"You should've woken me. I could've joined you in the shower." He wiggled his eyebrows at her and rose from the bed.

"Didn't you get enough of that last night?" She tossed him his sweats.

"Never." He grabbed her arm, pulled her next to his body, and kissed her hungrily.

A knock on the bedroom door interrupted them.

"Grandma says come down to breakfast." Phillip yelled through the closed door. "And she says to tell Lee that breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

Lee groaned as he heard the familiar quote.

Amanda opened the bedroom door a little ways. "We'll be right down, sweetheart."

"Come on, you'll need your strength. We still have all those boxes to unpack and others to put up in the attic and garage for storage."

He'd forgotten what a hassle it was to move. Maybe that's way all the other times he'd hired movers to do it all for him, from boxing everything up, to unpacking them in his new apartment. But Amanda had said why waste the money to hire someone when they could do it themselves and had two teenage boys that could help. She did relent when it came to moving the heavier furniture though and he'd rented a storage space. They didn't want to get rid of anything yet since they might need it for their new house. Somehow, though, they'd still managed to bring a ton of boxes to be either stored or unpacked.

He pulled on his clothes. "I really don't like to eat much for breakfast. You know that."

"I know, sweetheart, but mother is expecting you to eat. And eat you will." She placed her hands on her hips.

"For you I'll do anything. Even eat breakfast." He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"That's better. Now get dressed."

After quickly washing up and shaving Lee followed his wife downstairs. When he entered the kitchen he saw Dotty placing crispy bacon on a platter.

"Have a seat. Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes." Dotty picked up a large bowl and began to stir it.

"It smells delicious." Lee felt his stomach grumble with hunger as the aroma of the bacon wafted around him. Okay, a real breakfast besides coffee and a stale roll did sound appealing.

"I'll help mother."

"No, dear. This is my treat. I'm making a special breakfast for Lee." She placed the bowl down and picked up a pitcher of orange juice. "Here you can pour the juice." She handed Amanda the pitcher.

"Can I do anything Dotty?" Lee had no idea what to do with himself. It was going to take some getting used to living with a family.

"Nope. You're the guest of honor." She picked up a spatula and waved it at him. "But don't be getting used to this type of treatment. We don't always eat like this every morning. But we always have something even if it's only a bowl of milk and cereal.
Remember, breakfast is . . ."

"The most important meal of the day." Lee finished the sentence for her.

Dotty smiled. "That's right. Now go sit down and drink your juice. The coffee is already on the table."

Lee sat down next to Amanda at the breakfast table as she poured coffee into two cups.

Jamie bounded into the kitchen. "Bacon, eggs and pancakes. Yes." He pumped his arm in the air.

"Here you put the bacon on the table." She handed Jamie the platter.

"Is breakfast ready?" Phillip asked as entered.

"Almost." She ladled pancake mix onto the griddle. "Here take the eggs. I just have to make these pancakes."

"Okay." Phillip took the eggs and placed them in the middle of the table. Then he hit Jamie in the arm and motioned with his eyes to look at their grandmother.

Lee wondered what was going on between those two. They both stared at Dotty intently.

Dotty stood over the griddle a perplexed look on her face and he could tell she was mumbling something to herself.

Several minutes later Dotty placed a platter of the largest pancakes he'd ever seen in his life on the table. "I'm sorry, I don't know what happened, I had some of my special pancake mix leftover from a few weeks ago, they cooked up perfectly last time and I didn't do anything different this time, I added the same things I always do, they've never done this before, they've always been perfect, I don't know if they're even edible, I should probably just throw them away."

Lee couldn't believe she'd said all that in one breath. Now he knew where Amanda got her gift for rambling. Dotty was the master of the rambles.

Suddenly both Jamie and Phillip began to laugh hysterically, so much so they had tears in their eyes.

"April Fool," they said in between bouts of laughter.

"Boys what did you do to your grandmother?" Amanda asked looking at them sternly.

"We put quick acting dry yeast in the mix." Jamie said as he stopped laughing."

"Yeah, we wanted to see what would happen and thought it'd be a great April Fool’s joke to play on you grandma." Phillip added.

"We thought they'd blow up into huge masses." Jamie interjected.

"Well they kinda sorta did that." Lee stated as he eyed the monstrous cakes.

"That explains it. The yeast activated when I added the milk." Dotty began to laugh. "Well then, since these huge pancakes are your creation, the both of you can eat them." She placed the platter between them.

Both boys looked at their mother their faces dejected and worried. "Do we have ta, Mom?"

Amanda laughed. "I guess not." She tapped her finger on her lip. "On second thought, you both need to take at least three bites."

"One." Jamie countered.

"Two and that's my final offer." Amanda placed a huge pancake on each of their plates.

Lee handed Phillip the syrup. "Enjoy."

He watched as Phillip drenched the pancake in syrup and handed the bottle to his brother, who did the same to his.

Everyone at the table stared at the boys as they took the first bite. Lee had to suppress the urge to laugh at the faces they made after swallowing. They each grabbed a glass of orange juice and gulped it down. Then silently they picked up their forks to take another bite.

"You don't have to eat anymore." Amanda buttered a slice of toast.

"They tasted awful." Phillip grabbed a handful of bacon.

"Yeah." Jamie agreed and also piled his plate down with bacon.

"But remember the day isn't over yet and I have a feeling your grandmother will pay you both back." Amanda shook her finger at them.

"Right the day is young." Dotty sat down and put bacon and eggs on her plate. "And I have all day to think of something appropriate."

Phillip and Jamie looked at each other. "Nope, now we'll be on guard," Phillip said.

"Yeah." Jamie agreed.

Lee had silently been watching the exchange between family members. This was what it was like to be part of a family. Laughs. Jokes. Love. And he began to laugh out loud. "I don't know about the rest of you but I'm starving."

"Let's eat." Phillip handed Lee the platter of bacon.

Lee piled his plate with bacon and eggs and dug in. Now he just had to think of a good April Fool's joke to play on his wife.

Later that evening, after a dinner of pizza Dotty told the boys to put away the clean clothes she'd left on their beds. Moments later both boys came rushing back into the den.

"My clothes are all pink!" Phillip exclaimed.

"Mine, too." Jamie said holding up what was now a pink undershirt.

"Oh dear, I don't know what happened." Dotty replied. "Maybe something red got into the wash mistakenly."

"Oh, no," Phillip cried. "I can't wear this in gym class all the boys will laugh at me."

Amanda had been sitting next to Lee on the couch and he felt her body tremble as she tried to suppress laughter. It was then he knew Dotty had gotten the boys back for their joke this morning.

Dotty reached under the chair and pulled out two packages of white t-shirts. "April Fool's boys." She tossed each of them a new set of shirts.

That reminded him, he still hadn't thought of an appropriate joke to play on his wife. Oh well there was always next year. That'd give him plenty of time to think of something good.

The End

"The Dream"

Amanda stirred beside Lee. It was 5 a.m., and they still had an hour to go before the alarm would let them know it was time to get ready to go into the Agency for the day. Lee had been awake for the last hour or so; however, and by this point had even developed a stiff neck lying there trying not to wake Amanda up. He was glad to feel her moving around and was hoping she was going to wake up soon.

He began thinking about how lucky he felt to able wake up beside her every day now that they had come clean about their relationship as husband and wife. Amanda began to stir again and as she did, she began to mumble in her sleep breaking him out of his pleasant thoughts of waking up beside her this morning. He turned over carefully to see if he could decipher what she was dreaming about.

"It looks like we are heading for that black hole!!" Amanda said, her voice getting louder now as if the dream was becoming more intense. "I'm trying to steer us away from it, but Captain, I need help! If we could just reverse course make it back to the station…"

Amanda was becoming more restless lying beside him as the dream continued to intensify. "Oh my gosh, we're going to crash into that giant asteroid! It's coming straight towards us! Great it's either get sucked into the black hole or crash into the asteroid and burn," she said in a somewhat sarcastic tone. Lee smiled at his wife. Even in her dreams, she could be so charming and funny. God, how he loved this woman!

"Amanda? Amanda?" Lee questioned, as he gently shook his wife awake.

"John?" Amanda asked in a groggy voice as she attempted to wake up. Then as she became more aware of her surroundings she asked, "What's wrong? Oh Lee, I'm sorry, did I wake you? Was I dreaming?"

"No, I was already awake. That must have been some dream. And who is ~John~ anyway?" Lee asked feigning annoyance at being called John by Amanda in her half-asleep state.

"John?" a confused Amanda asked. Then the dream started coming back to her. "You know, that was a really odd dream, Lee. YOU were John. You and I were on this space ship together leaving a space station named Babylon 5. You were the Captain of the station. I'm not sure why we were leaving the station, but," Amanda explained. "I was trying to help you pilot the space ship away from this huge black hole. Suddenly a giant asteroid came out of nowhere and just as we began winning the fight with the black hole. Just before the asteroid collided with the ship, I woke up. Wasn't that an odd dream?"

Because he had known her long enough to know she would not be offended and the fact that she knew he loved her like no other woman he had ever dated, Lee said laughing, "Well, as you know, in my "past life" I was on occasion an astronaut!"


END